Sunday, 30 August 2009

The Par Beach Pool was strangely different this evening..... not a single Canada Goose was to be seen. That is a first for me since I have been doing the Baywatch blog.The Knot that Roger saw yesterday was not in sight this evening and it was a case of the usual residents plus an extra Coot or two.The beach and shoreline were much the same...Crows, Pied Wagtails, Rock Pipits, Oystercatchers, a lone Ringed Plover and Sandwich Terns offshore.The evening was very dull and misty and the light was poor for photographs.

Thursday, 27 August 2009

I had a look around Par Beach Pool and shoreline this morning but have nothing unusual to report.The Pool was teeming with the usual geese, gulls and wildfowl...these were being aided and abetted by a dozen Jackdaws and a pair of Pied Wagtails, practically all of them were at the poolside rather than on the water....waiting for the holidaymakers to feed them I reckon.The shoreline and sea were pretty barren as the tide was in ...Rock Pipits, and Pied Wagtails were on the shore with a handful of Mute Swans and the odd Gull out at sea.Still it gave me time to test the camera that I had returned yesterday.

The last email I got from Roger Lane identified the problems the equinox tides may have reaching the pool.

"Tide line was strewn with the urchin-like 'Sea Potato', many hundreds, dozs. of dead crabs, shells from oysters down to winkles, some partial fish skeletons and more green sea-weed. The high equinox tides MAY not make it into the pool since the council have not cleared the entrance stream (partly blocked half-way down to sea), but IF we get a strong S/SW wind sea-water may push through the blockage (reed- growth)."

Thanks for that Roger. I suspect most of us are kind of ignorant on these matters.

We decided to take a short break up country and visit the CBWPS' Walmsley Sanctuary near Wadebridge. Please note you have to be a CBWPS member and also a acquire a key from the CBWPS Membership Secretary before you can visit this site.Digiscoping was the order of the day and will continue so.. until my Nikon comes out of the repair shop.The visit provided me with life ticks at Walmsley (Green Sandpiper) and (Curlew Sandpiper) viewed from the Camel Trail near Padstow.

The toxic algae that is thought to have killed thousands of fish and shellfish in St Austell Bay is a "natural phenomena caused by weather conditions".The last time the algae was encountered in the Bay was in the 1970's when fish and shellfish leapt on the beach "as they gasped for air"..A complete report can be found in this weeks Cornish Guardian.

Monday, 17 August 2009

AS well as supplying me with valuable technical details Roger Lane stated the birds were sparse at Spit on his first visit for a long while.Noted were four Curlews that flew in to roost on the Harbour Wall with multiple Oystercatchers.Three Sandwich Terns "were chasing a gull which flew into Spit and it was my first adult, winter-plumage Mediterranean Gull of autumn ."A Holly Blue butterfly was also recorded only Roger's third of the second brood.

"Today: not much at Par, except an almost dead conger eel gasping for breath (youngster only 3ft long), which I 'rescued' by returning to the sea, but it won't survive. Dead flatfish, crabs and cockles galore. "

Friday, 14 August 2009

I had a report from Roger Lane about a small flock c 30 of waders that may have come in from Spit on the evening tide (sighting 13-08-09 at 7-30pm) that eventually landed at the dock end of Par Beach. In Roger's words"They eventually landed and flock was composed of c.half i.e. 15 x G.Ringed Plover, up to 10 x Dunlin and c.5 Sanderling (both adults and juveniles of each, a confusing assembly!)."

Roger also saw a lone Common Sandpiper that flew down the Par River towards Spit.He also drew my attention to the heavy algal pollution that is killing the fish with the Charlestown area the worst affected.Further news bulletins on local and regional news.

Roger has been watching the area for twenty years or more and must have a vast knowledge of his three disciplines , Birds, Butterflies and Dragonflies to go with his records from 1990 onwards.

He has kindly offered to assist in areas that I find difficult and I have gladly accepted.

Sunday, 9 August 2009

I fear the worse with my Nikon D300. The gremlins have struck and it will not come on at all. My SDHC card has blown and it is looking bad for the electronics of the camera. As soon as I know anything I will post on the blog...until then ..fingers crossed.

Saturday, 8 August 2009

Friday, 7 August 2009

This bunting seems to cause me all sorts of problems in trying to get a good image. I feel I have had the opportunities to deliver but have failed. A difficult bird to photograph well...up on the wire .

Yesterday evening saw us back again at the Beach Pool Par.The pool seemed taken over by Canada Geese who have been joined by a cousin or two from another Parish.A Little Egret was resting in a tree at the far reed bed end of the pool a distance far too great for my lens to do justice ..so I left alone.The beach turned up six Dunlins ...later joined by two others...feeding at the waters edge.Next we tried the Church area on the road to Menabilly but the usual butterflies in the fields and hedgerows were absent this evening.Swallows were hawking high up which augurs well for fine weather today.On the return Angie spotted what we at first though was a Greenfinch up on the wires but turned out to be a Yellowhammer..a patch tick as was the passing Sparrowhawk.

We decided to take Hesper down the valley and as she is far to excitable and boisterous I had to leave the camera behind . We ventured further along the walk than we had previously done and it turned out very pleasant. Two new patch butterflies Angie photographed..the Comma and Gatekeeper, are now added to the list.Half a dozen or so Swallows were perched on the wires at the end of the walk , also an elusive Chiffchaff and more obliging Wren were noted..At the finish of the walk close to the Sewer works three Goldcrests were playing in the trees. Although Angie tried to get a top shot these little birds again won the battle.

The Herring Gulls were back on the Pool in large numbers. The gull with the oversize meal in its mouth was continually mobbed and chased till it eventually dropped it . The meal was swifty devoured by the pack.

Tuesday, 4 August 2009

This morning I learnt that the St Austell Baywatch blog has been added to the guideAround theWorldhttp://www.geraldengland.co.uk/dp/ naturally I am very pleased with this and feel compelled to make a supreme effort to warrant its inclusion.

We decided again to look for and try to photograph the Tree Creepers we saw at the Manoa Valley Sewage Works.Unfortunately again we failed to locate them.The hawking Swallows were active quite low which is a sure sign of rain ahead. A family or two of Blue Tits were rustling around in the trees above and a couple of Jays were active at the first bend of the walk. I tried creeping up and half hoped they would return so I could get a photograph…no luck again… but in the field opposite was this white horse watching me intently. So today’s photograph is of a horse.

Sunday, 2 August 2009

The first port of call this evening was Spit Beach. Although the tide was in we saw Cormorants, Gulls,Rock Pipits and three Turnstones at the waters edge which after checking turned out a patch tick.The next stop was the Beach Pool at Par...the first thing that I noticed was that there was not a single Herring Gull on the pool, posts or waters edge a most unusual occurrence. In fact the pool was very quiet with a lone Coot, thirty Black-headed Gulls and the usual Geese and Swans but in smaller numbers.All the little brown jobs decided to keep themselves hidden and it was a very strange Gorse Walk with no birds singing or in sight.

Early in the afternoon Angie and myself photographed a number of Butterflies in a field close to Menabilly.

Cornwall Bird Watching (Click below )

Friends Of Par Beach (Click Below)

St Austell

A Market Town since 1189 and has now undergone a major regeneration program .

The new shopping and leisure centre (White River Place) opened October 2009 and employs 500 - 700 people.

Imery's modernized China Clay industry employs 2000 which is a huge drop from the early 20th Century when tin, copper and china clay found in the hills made St Austell a major Cornish industrial centre.

Another industry still alive and kicking is the St Austell Brewery which celebrated 150 years of trading in 2001.

Contributors

This blog aims to provide a documented account of the Natural History and Wildlife of this small stretch of under watched headland. Your participation would be most welcomed.To contribute to this Blog. Please send any photographs(old or new), sighting or articles etc tostaustellbaywatch@yahoo.co.uk